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Introduction to Communication Science week 6: 6.6 What's New About New Media?

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    I received a couple of requests to say something
    about ‘new media’.
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    There is of course a lot to say about this,
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    but for now I want to limit myself to a quick
    discussion on new media theory.
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    Before we continue, could you think about some
    old media?
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    Just note the first ones that pop up in your mind.
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    And now, some new media. I asked this
    question in many classrooms
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    usually my students mention mobile phones,
    the internet, tablets or blu-ray discs
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    as new media. Old media that are mentioned
    are the newspaper, books, television and radio.
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    Take a few seconds to think about why you
    consider this medium old and the other new.
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    What is the definition of a new medium?
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    While you are thinking about this, I want to
    share with you the following,
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    typical quote, from a scholar:
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    “[The new medium] will create forgetfulness in
    the learners' souls,
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    because they will not use their memories (…).
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    [Learners] will be hearers of many things and
    will have learned nothing;
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    they will appear to be omniscient and will
    generally know nothing;
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    they will be tiresome company, having the show
    of wisdom without the reality.”
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    What medium do you think this critical scholar
    had in mind? The internet?
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    You often hear people say things like this about
    the internet.
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    But this quote is actually about the written word
    by the famous philosopher Plato.
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    Plato wrote these critical notions on the written
    word around 360 Before Christ.
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    There are many historical quotes very similar to
    this one referring to other media
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    that were new at one time in history,
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    like the first printed books in the Late Middle
    Ages,
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    the new phenomenon of the popular newspaper
    press in the nineteenth century,
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    radio in the early and television in the late
    twentieth century.
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    The point I’m trying to make is this:
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    It’s important to realize that all media were new
    at one time or another.
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    Because it’s easy to fall into the trap of only
    seeing our current new media,
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    internet, mobile media and such, as new.
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    This trap has led some scholars to come up
    with very specific definitions of new media,
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    claiming that new media are always interactive,
    promote user participation, et cetera.
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    But is this useful?
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    Basically what we are seeing here is new media
    theory built around specific
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    and only current examples,
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    like the internet or mobile media. These types of
    theories explain what’s happening right now,
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    but you can’t really use them to explain the
    phenomenon of new media in general.
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    These theories, built around the new media of
    today,
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    hardly fit the situation where the written word
    was introduced
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    or the book printing revolution changed the face
    of Europe.
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    Also, in designing theories to fit current
    examples lies another danger,
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    because it’s very probable that these theories
    become outdated as soon
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    as a new new medium arises.
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    Therefore, many scholars argue against the
    practice of creating new media theories
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    to fit current examples.
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    The influential Marshall McLuhan gave a great
    example when he proposed his own theories on
    new media,
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    not by dwelling on modern-day examples, but
    by skipping back and forth through time,
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    showing in fact that his theories apply in all of
    these historical and modern situations.
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    One of his main observations was in fact that all
    of these media revolutions throughout history
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    were always caused by a new technology.
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    This perspective is called technology
    determinism,
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    because important shifts in human development
    are, in the end,
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    attributed to innovations in technology. The
    printing revolution was made possible by
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    Gutenberg’s innovation of the printing press.
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    The internet was made possible because
    computer networks were developed. Et cetera.
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    Another important conclusion of McLuhan was
    that all of these shifts in the media landscapes
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    had huge effects in society:
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    The printing revolution led to the Renaissance
    and Enlightenment.
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    The rise of the internet has heralded a modern
    digital information age.
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    Other scholars have followed in the footsteps of
    McLuhan,
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    even though they don’t always agree with his
    views,
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    they too strive to formulate theories and
    definitions on New Media
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    that capture the entirety of the new media
    phenomenon, and not only current examples.
Title:
Introduction to Communication Science week 6: 6.6 What's New About New Media?
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Transcript of all Week 6 videos: https://d396qusza40orc.cloudfront.net/commscience/transcripts%2FTranscript_Week_6%20Coursera.pdf

This lecture in .webm: http://d396qusza40orc.cloudfront.net/commscience/recoded_videos%2F6.6.db28226097c54c6ee3cb88e7a81306c5.webm

2. In the Coursera site, but apparently unaffected by the login block, for this lecture:

Subtitle text: https://class.coursera.org/commscience-001/lecture/subtitles?q=101_en&format=txt
Video mp4: https://class.coursera.org/commscience-001/lecture/download.mp4?lecture_id=101

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Week 6 description:
Student questions and debate
This week I will be discussing student questions from the forum and subjects that we did not have time for during the lectures, such as metaphors. I will also tell you a bit about the upcoming exam.

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Video Language:
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